I Caved in to the Sunset

[JimFox]

I was up at Pismo Beach for a birthday weekend for myself and one of my sisters. Our birthdays are 5 days apart so we split the difference which fell on the weekend and we went to Pismo Beach. Two of my sisters went with me, they hadn't been to Pismo in like 20 years, and they have heard me rave about Pismo and the beauty of the scenery and the beauty of their clam chowder for years now.

The tide was really too high to get to the cave. The tide was receeding, but was still really high and it sits behind a jutting cliff corner. So that cuts this part off from people during high tides. I had my water shoes and pants with me, I knew the tide was still high, but I saw it was getting low enough that I could sneak around the edge of the cliff if I stepped in the right spots while working the ebbs of the swells right. It took me about 10 minutes to go about 60 feet, but I made it. I got wet up to my hips, and I had to hold my cameras up to avoid splashes, but I made it.

The water when it flowed in was about 18" in the cave, nice enough to create some cool splashes. I stayed in the cave about 15 minutes, but didn't want to stay too long as I wanted to get to the next cove that is equally cut off as this cave is, and it has an even larger cave, before it got too dark. For reference this cave is about 8' tall and from about 5 to 8 feet wide.

Nikon Z6II
Viltrox 16mm f1.8

Single image, all comments are welcome,

Jim

 

[AlanLichty]

Brave soul to wander into a closed off cave like this. One nasty sneaker wave and you might have been in some serious trouble. Neat shot and I am glad nothing went south with this venture.

 

[JimFox]

Brave soul to wander into a closed off cave like this. One nasty sneaker wave and you might have been in some serious trouble. Neat shot and I am glad nothing went south with this venture.

That's always a possibility, but I have never seen any sneaker waves in that location for all of the time I have spent there. The waves have a much more consistent pattern in the southern part of California compared to Oregon. About every 50th wave will be larger, but not large enough to really do anything. The beach is a very flat beach and cove that stretches for miles, maybe that helps compared to the rocky beaches up north?

Now had it been stormy, perhaps I wouldn't have chanced it. And again, the waves I have found to be totally different then in Oregon.

 

[Rick Nantais]

I was up at Pismo Beach for a birthday weekend for myself and one of my sisters. Our birthdays are 5 days apart so we split the difference which fell on the weekend and we went to Pismo Beach. Two of my sisters went with me, they hadn't been to Pismo in like 20 years, and they have heard me rave about Pismo and the beauty of the scenery and the beauty of their clam chowder for years now.

The tide was really too high to get to the cave. The tide was receeding, but was still really high and it sits behind a jutting cliff corner. So that cuts this part off from people during high tides. I had my water shoes and pants with me, I knew the tide was still high, but I saw it was getting low enough that I could sneak around the edge of the cliff if I stepped in the right spots while working the ebbs of the swells right. It took me about 10 minutes to go about 60 feet, but I made it. I got wet up to my hips, and I had to hold my cameras up to avoid splashes, but I made it.

The water when it flowed in was about 18" in the cave, nice enough to create some cool splashes. I stayed in the cave about 15 minutes, but didn't want to stay too long as I wanted to get to the next cove that is equally cut off as this cave is, and it has an even larger cave, before it got too dark. For reference this cave is about 8' tall and from about 5 to 8 feet wide.

Nikon Z6II
Viltrox 16mm f1.8

Single image, all comments are welcome,

Jim

View attachment 77723

wow !

 

[Jameel Hyder]

Nice shot from inside the cave.

So I take it you took your sisters to the beach and then left them to go into the cave by yourself.

Oh and happy birthday.

 

[JimFox]

Nice shot from inside the cave.

So I take it you took your sisters to the beach and then left them to go into the cave by yourself.

Oh and happy birthday.

Awwww ummmm welllll.... maybe....

I was at the SeaCrest Oceanfront Resort. I have been staying there for years. So my sisters were hanging out at one of the many Fire pits they have there chatting away.

I am glad you liked it. I also went back about 3 hours later and went into the cave to shoot the moon through it. I will work on those later.

 

[Michael13]

Great shot! Shutter speed right on to convey the wave action.

 

[Kyle Jones]

Nice result and I appreciate the effort. This spot would be amazing with a stronger sunset but we can't get everything

I'd be tempted to crop some of the darker areas on the top and sides to draw the eye more toward the light and the wave action, although I do like the subtle highlights in the rocks.

 

[JimFox]

Great shot! Shutter speed right on to convey the wave action.

Thanks Michael. I was glad to get some wave splashing.

 

[JimFox]

Nice result and I appreciate the effort. This spot would be amazing with a stronger sunset but we can't get everything

I'd be tempted to crop some of the darker areas on the top and sides to draw the eye more toward the light and the wave action, although I do like the subtle highlights in the rocks.

Thank you Kyle. I always feel that if you don't get wet while photographing at the beach, you aren't doing it right.

I will check out that crop.

 

[Beth]

nice framing!

 

[JimFox]

nice framing!

Thanks! I appreciate that!

 

[Aaron Cowan]

Awesome spot and lovely photo. I would be nervous hanging out in there for too long!

 

[JimFox]

Awesome spot and lovely photo. I would be nervous hanging out in there for too long!

Thanks Aaron. The tide was going out, so I felt pretty comfortable there. The issue was the sun had just set and it was getting darker quick. There is a much larger cave I wanted to see if I could get to that was about 200 feet to the north. The issue is there, is it's a little closer to the ocean, so the water level would be higher there then where I am here. After about 10 minutes in this cave, I left to go across the cove to that large cave, but the water was still too high to safely get there, and also by then it was getting too dark.